“The fight against climate change cannot be won by a handful of governments or agencies alone” – Climate Champion’s Remarks at High-Level Stocktake on Pre-2020 Ambition and Implementation

Excellencies, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen,

I am delighted to join you in this high-level stocktake on pre- 2020 implementation and ambition.

The mandated role of the High-Level Champions is to catalyse climate action and mobilize non-Party stakeholders in the lead up to 2020.

This is in recognition of two key requirements –

Firstly, in order to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement we need to take climate action as early as possible. Swift actions are urgently needed in this pre-2020 period to set the foundation for the realisation of the Paris goals.

And now, with the release of the IPCC Special Report, the urgency to act is even greater if we are to keep global warming to within 1.5 degrees Celsius – and we, from small developing island countries insist on this. The report is indicating that we do not have time to waste; and while the work ahead is immense – it is not impossible.

And this brings me to the second important requirement – we need the engagement of non-Party stakeholders to achieve the scale of climate action needed to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement; and more specifically to keep us on pathways to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

The fight against climate change cannot be won by a handful of governments or agencies alone. This immense undertaking can only be realised if everyone plays their part; and if everyone works together – developing partnerships and synergies to maximise on climate actions.

This year, non-Party stakeholders’ contributions were expanded by the opportunity to make submissions to the Talanoa Dialogue, and through various events such as the Regional Climate Weeks in Africa; in Asia-Pacific; and in Latin America and the Caribbean.

These regional weeks saw active the engagement of non- Party stakeholders in talanoa. Talanoa sessions were also successfully organised by various organisations across the world.

I was humbled to witness how the talanoa concept of inclusiveness and constructive dialogue was embraced by all stakeholders.

This array of valuable information and inspiring achievements have been fed into the Talanoa Dialogue.

Without doubt the contributions of the non-Party Stakeholders have greatly enriched the Talanoa Dialogue process with their many different perspectives and success stories.

I hope this experience will help provide direction on the upcoming global stocktake process.

Together with the regional weeks, the Technical Examination Processes for both mitigation and adaptation are offering concrete solutions for policy options in pre-2020 period.

Under this processes, the Summaries for Policymakers have been highlighting that coordination and coherence – or in one word ‘integration’ – is required in our international efforts to address climate change and sustainable development.

Connections and relationships between various strands of sectoral climate action are increasingly recognised and acted on.

The Summaries for Policymakers also inform about the importance of innovative business models. These models bring huge benefits in material and energy efficiency through implementing a circular economy.

Excellencies

The UN Secretary-General mentioned at the High-Level Event of Global Climate Action last week that the success of climate action depends on inclusive multilateralism.

The key of it is, again, integration – integration of a range of stakeholders including local communities and vulnerable groups; integration of a cross-sectoral perspective that looks beyond traditional sector boundaries; integration of capacity- building components; and integration of gender and nature- based solutions.

If we ensure inclusive multilateralism, we also ensure integration of policy development and implementation.

Together with stakeholders, the High-Level Champions have published the 2018 Yearbook of Global Climate Action.

The Yearbook demonstrates that global climate action is being delivered now BUT there is a huge potential to do much more.

The breadth of commitments made by non-Party stakeholders are significant and global.

To share with you an overview of the magnitude – more than 9,000 cities, around 240 states and regions; and more than 6,000 businesses have reported commitments. And this is not happening in just one or two countries but all over the world.

To enhance transparency and tracking of these actions, the Global Climate Action portal, the revamped NAZCA, has been relaunched ahead of COP 24.

Throughout the work of Marrakech Partnership for Global Climate Action, we have been demonstrating that non-Party stakeholders are already delivering results and have potential to do more – but the common message across all these sectors is that they need your stronger political leadership – your leadership in promoting both vertical and horizontal integration.

This will help unlock private sector investments and accelerate implementation of transformative initiatives and measures by non-Party stakeholders.

Excellencies

More needs to be done for pre-2020 ambition and with only 2 years to go, this is more urgent than ever. It is my sincere hope that your leadership will trigger further realization of climate action in the pre-2020 period and beyond.

This pre-2020 period requires all of us to strengthen cooperation and to put in place accountable multi-level governance that includes actors such as industry, civil society and scientific institutions.

In the lead up to 2020, let us strengthen and develop partnerships; let us share innovations and technologies; let us mobilise resources and let us develop capacities across all regions, especially in developing countries, so everyone can capably and effectively contribute.

The IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 degrees is clear in calling for the urgency of action.

We all know that delaying action means increasing the risk of exposing the world to more dangerous consequences of climate change.

We need to demonstrate political leadership to harness the action and support that so many non-Party stakeholders are offering to us on the ground. We need to set the right policy frameworks to enable non-Party stakeholders to deliver on their commitments. .

Creating this environment will inspire and encourage stakeholders to confidently work with governments to develop more ambitious targets in NDCs, and support its achievement. And we all know that this is the underlying need to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement – collective NDCs that are much – much more ambitious.

Let us work together, let us embrace inclusive multilateralism, let us act now! Only then can we achieve a resilient, sustainable and prosperous world